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Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation
A nuanced, intelligent, and passionate exploration of the life and work of one of the most misunderstood writers of the twentieth century. Sylvia Plath is an object of enduring cultural fascination―the troubled patron saint of confessional poetry; a writer whose genius is buried under the weight of her status as the quintessential literary sad girl. A pro-Plath polemic, Loving Sylvia Plath examines these myths in order to dismantle them and asks why, when Plath speaks frankly about her husband’s brutality, we refuse to take her at her word. Emily Van Duyne―a superfan and scholar―radically reimagines the last years of Plath’s life, confronts her suicide and the construction of her legacy, and offers feminist, interdisciplinary readings of her extraordinary poetry. Drawing from decades of study on Plath and her husband Ted Hughes, the chief architect of Plath’s mythology; never-before-seen archival materials; and a nuanced, empathetic understanding of the experience of domestic violence; Van Duyne seeks to undo the silencing of Sylvia Plath and resuscitate her as the hard-working, brilliant writer she was. 6 illustrations
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 9, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
July 22, 2024
Plath wrote 'Tulips' soon after she miscarried her second pregnancy, a loss she later attributed to being beaten by Ted Hughes.
It was only possible to be shocked by Plath's accusations of abuse if you had ignored or disbelieved her - or, importantly, people writing about her - for the last fifty-one years. This was an old story.
... we don't read Falcon Yard as one of Plath's attempts to find language for a pattern of violence, including sexual violence, within a romantic relationship. Instead, this violence is presented as a symbol of Hughes' emotional impact on her psyche, rather than a literal mark on her body.
This is a definitively late engagement with Plath which re-opens the topic of her marriage to Ted Hughes with a specific focus on violence, sometimes sexualised, and the imbalances that have persisted in the way Plath is read, interpreted and represented, especially given the gaps in the archive, some of which can themselves be attributed to Hughes' attempts to control the narrative: 'Over the course of thirty-five years, Hughes admitted anecdotally and in print to either actively burning or losing Plath's journals, poems, letters, and her third novel-in-progress'.
Van Duyne isn't attempting to prise open the life as we know it though she does comment on the various biographies, including the early aborted attempts, and their stances including what was written out. It's surprising to see the claim that Heather Clark in Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, for instance, doesn't mention the claimed violence that possibly led to Plath's miscarriage, even though it is stated in letters. [Update: see comment below stating that this event is in Clark].
In some ways, then, this operates as a kind of meta-commentary somewhat like Janet Malcolm's The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes only here Van Duyne tries to contextualise her reading via some modern feminist theory on intimate partner violence (IPV). The theory is lightly used and can feel a bit defensive: Van Duyne was warned that nay-sayers would be coming for this book ('more Plath? why?') and her attempt to fight her corner by quoting from adjacent works such as The Haunting of Hill House (for female suicide) and In the Dream House for intimate partner violence doesn't necessarily shore up her project.
Nevertheless, this is helpful on re-examining Plath's marriage in the light of the Assia Wevill relationship with Hughes (she also committed suicide by gas and went one step further in taking her daughter by Hughes with her), and his later marriage as well as the many, many affairs. I hadn't heard Erica Jong, for example, on Hughes who she described as having a 'vampirish warlock appeal... he tried on me full force... He was a born seducer and only my terror of Sylvia's ghost kept me from being seduced' - and note that 'ghost', a connection to Jacqueline Rose's The Haunting of Sylvia Plath.
This is perhaps at its most passionate when it takes on the detractors of Plath herself, her writing and her readers, too often misrepresented as 'hysterical' young women, feminists and man or Hughes haters. There is still a struggle for the posthumous 'afterlife' of Plath, one already contaminated by the way the Hughes family repressed scholarship, biographies and destroyed the final journals and writing left unfinished at Plath's death. Some of that may well have been to protect the young children of the marriage (though the papers could have been sealed in an archive, rather than destroyed, surely?) but the interplay of Birthday letters with Plath's own poetry is testament to Hughes' dynamic re-writing of the story of this marriage which also turns Plath from raging, incandescent poet to object of his own poetic re-telling.
This book feels a little lax in places but it is a valuable and contemporary way of re-constituting Plath's life and writings for a 21st century audience.
(Full source notes and a selected bibliography and included)
April 17, 2024
A really interesting look at the life of Sylvia Plath by an author who loves her writing and also experienced violence at the hands of her partner. Through looking at what Plath said in her work and words, and what was suppressed, and the difficulties in writing biographies about her, the book presents lots of information on interpersonal violence, the ways women are silenced and much more. I particularly appreciated the chapter on Assia Wevill as it appears to me she is even more misrepresented, such a sad story. A book I found hard to put down (probably because of my own interests in death, mental illness, feminism etc)
February 25, 2024
The poet, Ted Hughes, began mythologizing his wife poet, Sylvia Plath, immediately after her death. Van Duyne in LOVING SYLVIA PLATH attempts to shatter these myths and urges us to take Plath at her word. Needless to say, Hughes doesn’t fare very well between these pages and perhaps he shouldn’t. According to Van Duyne, Plath has told us repeatedly that she was abused both physically and emotionally. This is well-researched, feminist literary criticism that makes a top-notch companion piece to Heather Clark’s biography RED COMET: THE SHORT LIFE AND BLAZING ART OF SLYVIA PLATH.
April 30, 2024
As a Plath superfan since adolescence, I was drawn to this book and am so grateful to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for the opportunity to get an early peek at it.
I have read many of the biographies cited in this book, and found it to be a compelling addition to the Plath catalog. My concern was that it might offer a simple rehashing of what has already been written. However, it is ultimately (and most importantly) a critical examination of the scholarship done thus far, particularly regarding the choices various biographers have made when it comes to the intimate partner violence between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. IPV is the filter through which Van Duyne examines Sylvia's life, work, and death. It was fascinating to see how scholars have protected the myth of Hughes at Plath's expense. The distillation of Plath's life to her tragic demise has always bothered me, and this book goes a long way in taking a more holistic look at her life and work as well as the culpability that not only Hughes but his apologists bear.
I have read many of the biographies cited in this book, and found it to be a compelling addition to the Plath catalog. My concern was that it might offer a simple rehashing of what has already been written. However, it is ultimately (and most importantly) a critical examination of the scholarship done thus far, particularly regarding the choices various biographers have made when it comes to the intimate partner violence between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. IPV is the filter through which Van Duyne examines Sylvia's life, work, and death. It was fascinating to see how scholars have protected the myth of Hughes at Plath's expense. The distillation of Plath's life to her tragic demise has always bothered me, and this book goes a long way in taking a more holistic look at her life and work as well as the culpability that not only Hughes but his apologists bear.
April 29, 2024
I received this as a digital galley from NetGalley.
One of the things I loved about this new work of scholarship about Sylvia Plath was the reconsideration of previous scholarship (good & bad).
Also fuck Ted Hughes.
One of the things I loved about this new work of scholarship about Sylvia Plath was the reconsideration of previous scholarship (good & bad).
Also fuck Ted Hughes.
August 22, 2024
This is a brilliant analysis of Plath's life and work that recognizes how she has been mythologized into a "posthumous writer", so fated to die that all of her work points to her passing. This work speaks in tandem with other biographies, but I appreciate Duyne's critique of how other biographers bend to the characterization by the Hughes estate.
Also, Ted Hughes can go f*ck himself. He's dead but he should be more dead. He stole the voices of women and shaped them for his benefit. Sylvia, Assia and Shura didn't die by his hand but he obliterated them afterwards. It's disheartening to read all of the instances of erasure by Hughes and his estate (and I'm a little more agitated than usual about it as I'm also reading Wifedom where George Orwell erases his, frankly, more interesting wife from his narrative works)
Would highly recommend this book but would recommend taking a stroll between sittings 😅
Also, Ted Hughes can go f*ck himself. He's dead but he should be more dead. He stole the voices of women and shaped them for his benefit. Sylvia, Assia and Shura didn't die by his hand but he obliterated them afterwards. It's disheartening to read all of the instances of erasure by Hughes and his estate (and I'm a little more agitated than usual about it as I'm also reading Wifedom where George Orwell erases his, frankly, more interesting wife from his narrative works)
Would highly recommend this book but would recommend taking a stroll between sittings 😅
September 19, 2024
Thinking about what we leave behind to be remembered by, how inevitably inaccurate all of it is, the horrors of being utterly misunderstood not only in life but in death. This is what a biography ought to be. Screw New Criticism, feel everything.
"But I remain firm in my suspicion that young women are taught they must grow out of their love of Plath because grown women should love men."
"But I remain firm in my suspicion that young women are taught they must grow out of their love of Plath because grown women should love men."
August 8, 2024
I never leave reviews beyond the star rating, but this book moved me so profoundly that it would be an injustice to give it five stars and walk away.
I cried reading the first three chapters and experienced a rage throughout the book that I did not expect to experience. Van Duyne’s work allowed for a reclamation of not only Plath’s brilliance but also Plath’s readers’ own stories. Often, as Van Duyne explains, Plath readers fall victim to misogynistic stereotypes that completely undermine Plath’s incredible contribution to literature and her readers’ ability to comprehend Plath’s work beyond the reductionist “tortured artist” trope.
Plath was not born to die. She did not love Ted Hughes so hard that it killed her. In writing about the 50+ year old elephant in the room, Van Duyne emphasized Plath’s voice that so many men in power tried to stifle over the years. Little by little, Van Duyne’s work reminds readers that Plath was a human, not a myth. I am deeply appreciative of this.
I rented this book from the library and will purchase it immediately. I know I will return to it time and time again.
I cried reading the first three chapters and experienced a rage throughout the book that I did not expect to experience. Van Duyne’s work allowed for a reclamation of not only Plath’s brilliance but also Plath’s readers’ own stories. Often, as Van Duyne explains, Plath readers fall victim to misogynistic stereotypes that completely undermine Plath’s incredible contribution to literature and her readers’ ability to comprehend Plath’s work beyond the reductionist “tortured artist” trope.
Plath was not born to die. She did not love Ted Hughes so hard that it killed her. In writing about the 50+ year old elephant in the room, Van Duyne emphasized Plath’s voice that so many men in power tried to stifle over the years. Little by little, Van Duyne’s work reminds readers that Plath was a human, not a myth. I am deeply appreciative of this.
I rented this book from the library and will purchase it immediately. I know I will return to it time and time again.
July 15, 2024
A much needed addition and correction to existing studies of Plath. Van Duyne traces the origins of the mythology surrounding Plath, much of it coming from the Hughes camp, and shows how it influences public opinion, not to mention scholarship, to this day. Ted Hughes's highly unethical behavior is exposed for all to see. I am just as concerned here with his pillaging of Sylvia Plath's and Assia Wevill's literary estates as I am with his emotional and physical abuse of these women.
The chapter on Assia Wevill is generous and necessary; the author's visits to the graves of both Plath and Wevill are heartfelt and gratifying.
The chapter on Assia Wevill is generous and necessary; the author's visits to the graves of both Plath and Wevill are heartfelt and gratifying.
August 23, 2024
What a beautiful and important new biography of Sylvia Plath. Emily Van Duyne explores Plath's experience with domestic violence at the hands of her husband, Ted Hughes, and why this history has been covered up by Hughes himself and other critics. Plath's death is often romanticized, but Van Duyne points to DV as an important factor in Plath's mental illness and ultimate death by suicide.
July 5, 2024
Sylvia Plath, and her fans, have long been symbols of female hysteria: overwrought, depressed, and obsessed with death. And while Heather Clark’s definitive 2020 biography Red Comet did much to dispel that myth and give a fuller picture of Sylvia Plath’s life, that old stereotype still lingers. Emily Van Duyne’s new book interrogates that stereotype while contending that Sylvia was a victim of intimate partner violence, and her legacy and reputation were heavily edited by Ted Hughes. This book is both an academic look and a personal reflection on Van Duyne’s feelings about Sylvia Plath. She focuses especially closely on Sylvia’s poem’s about marriage, and discusses the difficulties that many biographers and scholars faced when attempting to get a full picture of the famous poet after her death.
Does the world need yet another book about Sylvia Plath? As a huge Plath fan, I would say yes! After reading Red Comet I did not think there would be much left to say, but it was interesting how Van Duyne focused on a specific area of Plath’s life (and death) - the intimate partner violence she suffered at the hands of Ted Hughes. While there is not necessarily anything new here in the way of information, the way that Van Duyne works with the same material everyone else has does feel new - she uses it to shine a light on one specific area and then discusses how that has impacted Plath’s legacy. I would not necessarily recommend this to readers who are new to Plath or who want a full biography, but I would certainly recommend it to Plath fans.
Thank you to NetGalley and Norton for the electronic advanced reader copy!
Does the world need yet another book about Sylvia Plath? As a huge Plath fan, I would say yes! After reading Red Comet I did not think there would be much left to say, but it was interesting how Van Duyne focused on a specific area of Plath’s life (and death) - the intimate partner violence she suffered at the hands of Ted Hughes. While there is not necessarily anything new here in the way of information, the way that Van Duyne works with the same material everyone else has does feel new - she uses it to shine a light on one specific area and then discusses how that has impacted Plath’s legacy. I would not necessarily recommend this to readers who are new to Plath or who want a full biography, but I would certainly recommend it to Plath fans.
Thank you to NetGalley and Norton for the electronic advanced reader copy!
August 4, 2024
@ my town librarian, thank you for placing this book on YOUR to-read list. i wouldn't have known of this book! it's funny how i was able to get a hold of the book on a hot summer day this past month. actually. i SNATCHED it.
Want to read
July 21, 2024Mentioned in Ann Kennedy Smith’s ‘Lost In The Archives’ Newsletter - July 15th 2024
September 12, 2024
"I must be lean & write & make worlds besides this to live in."
If you only read one book about Sylvia Plath, make it this one!
If you only read one book about Sylvia Plath, make it this one!
September 14, 2024
Amazing, I knew Emily wouldn’t let me down
July 26, 2024
Emily Van Duyne has taken her studies in Sylvia Plath to a new and heartbreakingly truthful level. In this book we read about the truth - about how the 'myth' of Plath was continually and from the beginning misogynized to de-empazise her skill, her talent, and her life. If you are a Plath lover and are interested in finding out how her life really went down - read this book. I ordered it in advance. Loved it.
October 25, 2024
I read a little bit of Sylvia Plath in school, her poems, and a little bit about her life, Loving Sylvia Plath is not a biography, it is not for those who know nothing about Plath, it's for those who have read her and are attracted to her life, her poems, her legacy. It's a book about the author's death, the myth/cult that formed around her, and her impact on literary circles and women worldwide. It also talks about the reasons that led to her end, toxic partners, abuse, and misogynistic society, and intertwines it with contemporary topics, like the Me Too movement. the abusive relationship between Plath and Hughes is something that many women can sadly identify with, and is one of the reasons why Sylvia Plath is so important, her poems were very personal and raw, you can feel seen in her words.
The author's admiration for Plath is evident, it is a well-researched story that does not make Sylvia Plath a victim, nor does it justify her, it makes her a real person and empathizes with her. It is a tough, straight-to-the-point novel that doesn't hold back or sugarcoat anything. This reclamation provides information that other biographies do not include or do not take into account, it not only talks about Plath but also about Ted Hughes and his physical and psychological abuse, it emphasizes how normalized an abusive relationship is and how many of the actions are not seen as a red light, how it affects the mental health of the other person, no matter how brave and brilliant you are.
Despite the title, Sylvia is not the only protagonist, so are Ted Hughes and Assia Wevill, I didn't know much about her, apart from being the other woman, but it's refreshing to see another point of view than just seeing her as the villain. Hughes has never been my favorite, and now he is less so, how is it possible for him to have an impact on the figure of both women even decades after their deaths? It's an examination of Plath's life, in a way that I had not read before, it emphasizes the mistreatment, and it is a great analysis and a must for fans of the author.
Overall is a raw, emotional read, it is not very long but it is a hard story because of how realistic it is, read it if you are a fan of the author and want to go deeper about her, especially from a new perspective, more modern and from the female point of view.
Thanks for the copy TLC Book Tours and W. W. Norton & Company.
The author's admiration for Plath is evident, it is a well-researched story that does not make Sylvia Plath a victim, nor does it justify her, it makes her a real person and empathizes with her. It is a tough, straight-to-the-point novel that doesn't hold back or sugarcoat anything. This reclamation provides information that other biographies do not include or do not take into account, it not only talks about Plath but also about Ted Hughes and his physical and psychological abuse, it emphasizes how normalized an abusive relationship is and how many of the actions are not seen as a red light, how it affects the mental health of the other person, no matter how brave and brilliant you are.
Despite the title, Sylvia is not the only protagonist, so are Ted Hughes and Assia Wevill, I didn't know much about her, apart from being the other woman, but it's refreshing to see another point of view than just seeing her as the villain. Hughes has never been my favorite, and now he is less so, how is it possible for him to have an impact on the figure of both women even decades after their deaths? It's an examination of Plath's life, in a way that I had not read before, it emphasizes the mistreatment, and it is a great analysis and a must for fans of the author.
Overall is a raw, emotional read, it is not very long but it is a hard story because of how realistic it is, read it if you are a fan of the author and want to go deeper about her, especially from a new perspective, more modern and from the female point of view.
Thanks for the copy TLC Book Tours and W. W. Norton & Company.
August 5, 2024
A forensic examination of the volatile relationship between Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and the way in which Hughes destroyed, censored and manipulated Plath’s art in order to suit his own narrative that she was destined for death since childhood and sacrificed herself for her art, as if his behaviour towards her was an irrelevance. While there have long been rumours that Hughes abused Plath, Van Duyne shows how the evidence has been hiding in plain sight all along, particularly with regard to his relationships with other women he similarly abused. After Plath died intestate Hughes was in control of how her work would be presented to the world, revising the order of poems in Ariel so that her death appeared an inevitability, destroying any of her journals that painted him in a bad light and censoring those letters and journals he did choose to publish, if only because of the considerable money to be made. With his newfound wealth he was in a position of power and influence and able to threaten lawsuits if prospective biographers failed to toe the line. His friends and colleagues gathered round and painted Plath as jealous and possessive and her fans as deranged feminists, while also airbrushing Assia Wevill and her child from history. While I have no doubt that Plath could be a difficult person, Hughes was certainly not blameless. Hughes and Plath were each other’s match and could be seen as a modern day Cathy and Heathcliff. He was charismatic and women found him extremely sexually attractive. Capitalising on his new fame, which he had achieved due to Plath’s hard work and financial scrimping, he was an inveterate womaniser, yet one who still required a ‘sweet home base’ to return to. Van Duyne’s expert analyses of Ariel, Capriccio and Birthday Letters show how Hughes manipulated the memories of Plath and Wevill as fated by the stars to kill themselves, as if he was not responsible for abandoning them with their children. Van Duyne’s own experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse are particularly insightful to this exploration of Plath. 10/10!
October 25, 2024
Interesting and thoughtful book on Plath, and her turbulent life with Ted Hughs.
October 23, 2024
This book was so horrible I had to log on to Goodreads for the first time in over a decade to get this off my chest. I am a lifelong Plath fan (though admittedly, not formally a Plath scholar) and as such have read a plethora of books about her - some good, some mediocre, many bad. I was excited when I first heard about this book as I believe Plath is long overdue for Van Duyne's titular Reclamation . In the hands of popular culture, Plath has become shorthand for female hysterics and manic depressives; she is, to her detriment, seen as a dramatic if successful poetess who either wrote herself into madness or used her mental illness as a creative tool, depending on who you ask. As a woman and as a writer, I am overtired of telling people of my love for Plath and receiving eye rolls or "of course you do"s in response. I expected - perhaps too hopefully - that Van Duyne would cast aside the myth of Plath as manic poetess and focus on the strength of Plath's self and body of work.
Imagine my disappointment upon slogging through two hundred and thirty pages of poorly constructed arguments, research shoehorned into a ready-made thesis of Van Duyne's imagination (thesis may be too strong a word - did she really have one?), and perhaps the most elementary and contradictory poetry analysis ever committed to the page. Van Duyne's book is shallow and self-centered, her arguments wispy, her analysis a void. It seems as though Van Duyne came into the research process for this book having already decided what she would write, and it is evident in her circular and aimless voice.
Van Duyne shovels in analysis in the same way a first-year grad student does, realizing that she has spent a full book saying not much of anything at all and sprinkling in sociological and politically feminist buzzwords in the worst ways possible. Sources include...The Huffington Post and Maggie Nelson. Van Duyne's analysis reminds me of what it was like to write an essay the evening of the due date: just taking sources wherever you can find them and fitting them in even where they don't belong because you forgot your Jstor password and you need to submit by midnight.
Like many other fans of Plath, I too strongly dislike Ted Hughes. Van Duyne goes from dislike into sheer unbalanced slander - a position that is fine to take when discussing amongst friends, but to sincerely argue Hughes had an incestous relationship with his sister Olwyn, whatever your view on Olwyn's management of Plath's literary estate (spoiler: it was bad!) is beyond the pale. Her evidence for this is Plath comparing him to Lord Byron.
Van Duyne gives Hughes a spectral, God-like power over Hughes and Assia Wevill - I thought this was supposed to be a reclamation, so why does she seem to believe Plath had no agency over herself? Anything Plath did that Van Duyne does not see herself reflected in is presented as Hughes's influence, as unexplainable action, as an out of character turn. Van Duyne is also oddly puritanical about their relationship - Hughes was an abuser, surely, and anyone who argues otherwise is not to be trusted, but Van Duyne seems to believe Plath was trapped under him so that all of her actions after February of 1956 are not her own, but the product of Hughes's manipulation.
Further, Van Duyne was in desperate need of an editor; her turns of phrase are clunky and confusing and formatting/grammar errors abound (has she never heard of a compound hyphenated noun?).
Van Duyne includes an email exchange with the notoriously taciturn Plath-biographer-to-be Harriet Rosenstein, in which Rosenstein is initially intrigued by Van Duyne's research and open to speaking to her but only after reviewing her notes and research. Rosenstein decides not to speak with her upon reviewing: a wise choice, and I probably would have done the same.
Imagine my disappointment upon slogging through two hundred and thirty pages of poorly constructed arguments, research shoehorned into a ready-made thesis of Van Duyne's imagination (thesis may be too strong a word - did she really have one?), and perhaps the most elementary and contradictory poetry analysis ever committed to the page. Van Duyne's book is shallow and self-centered, her arguments wispy, her analysis a void. It seems as though Van Duyne came into the research process for this book having already decided what she would write, and it is evident in her circular and aimless voice.
Van Duyne shovels in analysis in the same way a first-year grad student does, realizing that she has spent a full book saying not much of anything at all and sprinkling in sociological and politically feminist buzzwords in the worst ways possible. Sources include...The Huffington Post and Maggie Nelson. Van Duyne's analysis reminds me of what it was like to write an essay the evening of the due date: just taking sources wherever you can find them and fitting them in even where they don't belong because you forgot your Jstor password and you need to submit by midnight.
Like many other fans of Plath, I too strongly dislike Ted Hughes. Van Duyne goes from dislike into sheer unbalanced slander - a position that is fine to take when discussing amongst friends, but to sincerely argue Hughes had an incestous relationship with his sister Olwyn, whatever your view on Olwyn's management of Plath's literary estate (spoiler: it was bad!) is beyond the pale. Her evidence for this is Plath comparing him to Lord Byron.
Van Duyne gives Hughes a spectral, God-like power over Hughes and Assia Wevill - I thought this was supposed to be a reclamation, so why does she seem to believe Plath had no agency over herself? Anything Plath did that Van Duyne does not see herself reflected in is presented as Hughes's influence, as unexplainable action, as an out of character turn. Van Duyne is also oddly puritanical about their relationship - Hughes was an abuser, surely, and anyone who argues otherwise is not to be trusted, but Van Duyne seems to believe Plath was trapped under him so that all of her actions after February of 1956 are not her own, but the product of Hughes's manipulation.
Further, Van Duyne was in desperate need of an editor; her turns of phrase are clunky and confusing and formatting/grammar errors abound (has she never heard of a compound hyphenated noun?).
Van Duyne includes an email exchange with the notoriously taciturn Plath-biographer-to-be Harriet Rosenstein, in which Rosenstein is initially intrigued by Van Duyne's research and open to speaking to her but only after reviewing her notes and research. Rosenstein decides not to speak with her upon reviewing: a wise choice, and I probably would have done the same.
October 13, 2024
“This is the terror in writing about Plath—you have to get everything right, but there is so much to get wrong.”
*
“This is the chief problem of writing about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath—you know Hughes made it hard for these women, you know they feared him. You know he made it hard for the women who wanted to write about them. You know somehow he still does, although he is no more, scattered ashes somewhere on Dartmoor.”
-
Initially, I was under the impression that the empathetic portrayal of Plath and Hughes in Red Comet by Heather Clark had been replaced by Emily Van Duyne's unapologetically sharp voice. However, I soon realized that Van Duyne had skillfully channelled her compassion for women who rightfully deserve to be heard and seen.
I found the book to be more of an indictment of Ted Hughes rather than a reclamation of Sylvia Plath. It seemed to portray him as a brutal and controlling figure rather than a poet plagued by guilt as is the common belief. I understand that the author is a survivor of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and I don't want to discredit her efforts in this book. However, I wonder if her personal experiences have affected her view of Plath at all. I despise what Hughes did to Plath at the end of their marriage, particularly his extramarital affairs. Yet, I don't want to disregard the bond they had as artists and how they supported each other's careers through all the ups and downs. I believe that the perspective brought out by this book should not be seen as the only way to understand the complex relationship between Plath and Hughes (both during and after her lifetime).
As much as I enjoyed devouring the analysis of the poems by Plath and Hughes, I found some of the interpretations went way too far (for example, the rumour of the incestuous relationship between Olwyn and Ted Hughes—was it be credited enough and necessary to be included in this book?). Nevertheless, the book offers well-researched insights and thought-provoking analyses on the matter of IPV. It sheds light on what we missed while reading about Plath’s life, seeing through what Hughes did with “anything he remembered, we remembered. What he forgot was thought to be lost.”
All things considered, I appreciate the book for providing such crucial and up-to-date information that I didn’t find in most biographies and articles about Plath. It was finely executed in roughly 300 pages. I was especially touched by the last few chapters, particularly when Van Duyne paid homage to both Sylvia Plath and Assia Wevill by visiting their resting places. Thanks to this book, I also found Wevill’s story to be more compelling than merely Plath’s love rival.
This is definitely a great follow-up for anyone who has recently finished a biography on Plath.
*
“This is the chief problem of writing about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath—you know Hughes made it hard for these women, you know they feared him. You know he made it hard for the women who wanted to write about them. You know somehow he still does, although he is no more, scattered ashes somewhere on Dartmoor.”
-
Initially, I was under the impression that the empathetic portrayal of Plath and Hughes in Red Comet by Heather Clark had been replaced by Emily Van Duyne's unapologetically sharp voice. However, I soon realized that Van Duyne had skillfully channelled her compassion for women who rightfully deserve to be heard and seen.
I found the book to be more of an indictment of Ted Hughes rather than a reclamation of Sylvia Plath. It seemed to portray him as a brutal and controlling figure rather than a poet plagued by guilt as is the common belief. I understand that the author is a survivor of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and I don't want to discredit her efforts in this book. However, I wonder if her personal experiences have affected her view of Plath at all. I despise what Hughes did to Plath at the end of their marriage, particularly his extramarital affairs. Yet, I don't want to disregard the bond they had as artists and how they supported each other's careers through all the ups and downs. I believe that the perspective brought out by this book should not be seen as the only way to understand the complex relationship between Plath and Hughes (both during and after her lifetime).
As much as I enjoyed devouring the analysis of the poems by Plath and Hughes, I found some of the interpretations went way too far (for example, the rumour of the incestuous relationship between Olwyn and Ted Hughes—was it be credited enough and necessary to be included in this book?). Nevertheless, the book offers well-researched insights and thought-provoking analyses on the matter of IPV. It sheds light on what we missed while reading about Plath’s life, seeing through what Hughes did with “anything he remembered, we remembered. What he forgot was thought to be lost.”
All things considered, I appreciate the book for providing such crucial and up-to-date information that I didn’t find in most biographies and articles about Plath. It was finely executed in roughly 300 pages. I was especially touched by the last few chapters, particularly when Van Duyne paid homage to both Sylvia Plath and Assia Wevill by visiting their resting places. Thanks to this book, I also found Wevill’s story to be more compelling than merely Plath’s love rival.
This is definitely a great follow-up for anyone who has recently finished a biography on Plath.
September 23, 2024
This book is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. A passionate exploration of the intersection of literature, history, and writing, and a model for a new approach to biography that not only takes its subject seriously, but truly cares about her.
The book is rage-inducing. Whatever you think or know or think you know about Ted Hughes… he’s worse. Much worse. Misogynist. Anti-Semitic. Violent. Cruel.
Van Duyne gives us a new way and new language to read Plath’s life and writing through an understanding of intimate partner violence. Ted Hughes bruised Sylvia Plath, he pushed her, he grabbed her, he tried to strangle her, he beat her (which she named as the cause of a miscarriage), he threatened her, and he raped her. She wrote about it in her poems, wrote about it in letters to her psychiatrist, and she told friends about it.
Without recognizing this key experience within Plath’s marriage to Hughes, Plath’s legacy is reduced to that of a sad, depressive girl who was destined to kill herself because of her obsession with her poetry, rather than seeing her poetry as the one thing that may have saved her and as an attempt to leave a record of her life. Van Duyne asks us to believe women.
In 2017 (long after Hughes’ death), “shocking” archival letters were released that proved Hughes was violent against Plath. But Van Duyne says this was not news at all. The book is also about the many ways that feminist biographers since the 1970s knew & tried to tell Plath’s story, against the self-protective counter-narrative created by Hughes. Van Duyne connects Hughes’ infamous mishandling of Plath’s literary estate as a coordinated coverup of his mistreatment of & violence against Plath and against Assia Wevill, with whom he had an affair and who also killed herself & their young child, a child Hughes barely acknowledged.
And yet, this story was always “hiding in plain sight,” as Hughes brazenly told us who he was through the cruel, cutting lines about Plath and Wevill embedded in his own celebrated poetry. It is shocking (maybe) that someone like Plath who wrote so many words, has been so consistently silenced. But only because Hughes lived longer and wrote even more words.
The book provides interesting context for thinking about the complicity of the larger mid-20th c. literary & publishing worlds as well, many of them loyal to Ted Hughes rather than loyal to history and truth. And none of them loyal to or loving Sylvia Plath.
The book is rage-inducing. Whatever you think or know or think you know about Ted Hughes… he’s worse. Much worse. Misogynist. Anti-Semitic. Violent. Cruel.
Van Duyne gives us a new way and new language to read Plath’s life and writing through an understanding of intimate partner violence. Ted Hughes bruised Sylvia Plath, he pushed her, he grabbed her, he tried to strangle her, he beat her (which she named as the cause of a miscarriage), he threatened her, and he raped her. She wrote about it in her poems, wrote about it in letters to her psychiatrist, and she told friends about it.
Without recognizing this key experience within Plath’s marriage to Hughes, Plath’s legacy is reduced to that of a sad, depressive girl who was destined to kill herself because of her obsession with her poetry, rather than seeing her poetry as the one thing that may have saved her and as an attempt to leave a record of her life. Van Duyne asks us to believe women.
In 2017 (long after Hughes’ death), “shocking” archival letters were released that proved Hughes was violent against Plath. But Van Duyne says this was not news at all. The book is also about the many ways that feminist biographers since the 1970s knew & tried to tell Plath’s story, against the self-protective counter-narrative created by Hughes. Van Duyne connects Hughes’ infamous mishandling of Plath’s literary estate as a coordinated coverup of his mistreatment of & violence against Plath and against Assia Wevill, with whom he had an affair and who also killed herself & their young child, a child Hughes barely acknowledged.
And yet, this story was always “hiding in plain sight,” as Hughes brazenly told us who he was through the cruel, cutting lines about Plath and Wevill embedded in his own celebrated poetry. It is shocking (maybe) that someone like Plath who wrote so many words, has been so consistently silenced. But only because Hughes lived longer and wrote even more words.
The book provides interesting context for thinking about the complicity of the larger mid-20th c. literary & publishing worlds as well, many of them loyal to Ted Hughes rather than loyal to history and truth. And none of them loyal to or loving Sylvia Plath.
August 31, 2024
Loving Sylvia Plath takes a scholarly look at Plath's life and works, as well as the way that the public and scholars have responded to her fame over time, often dismissing her work or fans of her work for being hysterical. It also discusses the ways in which Plath has been rewritten or silenced over time, whether that be her works intentionally being hidden or being revised in ways that she obviously did not intend for them to be published. The book looks at Plath, but it also discusses some of the most important relationships during her life, as well as the scholars and biographers who studied her after her death.
The commentary on the ways in which people have reacted to Plath's work and criticism of Ted Hughes was quite interesting. There were also some sections that related her poems back to her life, which I found enjoyable. Some of the later chapters I found a bit repetitive, which made the book feel a bit disorganized and I wasn't entirely certain what the themes of some of the chapters were supposed to be. At times it felt like the author was trying to take an intersectional lens to connect the problems with the public's perspective on Plath to larger societal issues, but it never really got to the larger point. There were also some connections that the author shared with Plath in their personal lives that I wish had been expanded on a bit more. More discussion of the early biographers who had tried to write about Plath would have been interesting as well. Overall, this is a decent overview of the scholarly work that has been produced on Sylvia Plath, and it has some good discussion about the way that women are treated as writers and scholars impacting the ways in which Plath and the people who write about her are looked down upon. This will certainly be of interest to those who want to learn more about Sylvia Plath's personal life and relationships.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted copy.
The commentary on the ways in which people have reacted to Plath's work and criticism of Ted Hughes was quite interesting. There were also some sections that related her poems back to her life, which I found enjoyable. Some of the later chapters I found a bit repetitive, which made the book feel a bit disorganized and I wasn't entirely certain what the themes of some of the chapters were supposed to be. At times it felt like the author was trying to take an intersectional lens to connect the problems with the public's perspective on Plath to larger societal issues, but it never really got to the larger point. There were also some connections that the author shared with Plath in their personal lives that I wish had been expanded on a bit more. More discussion of the early biographers who had tried to write about Plath would have been interesting as well. Overall, this is a decent overview of the scholarly work that has been produced on Sylvia Plath, and it has some good discussion about the way that women are treated as writers and scholars impacting the ways in which Plath and the people who write about her are looked down upon. This will certainly be of interest to those who want to learn more about Sylvia Plath's personal life and relationships.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted copy.
September 6, 2024
5/5⭐️s - I have just always been so curious about Sylvia Plath and my first real deep dive into her life (and the first book I read about her) was through reading Red Comet in 2022. I was completely sucked in, and by the time I was finished reading it, I was adding everything Sylvia to my cart. I remember planning our trip to London in 2023 and learning that Ted Hughes has a spot in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey. I was shooketh. We did not visit it. I have yet to read any of his writing, but I don't need to read any to know that he was not a good human and certainly not worthy of recognition in any Abbey. I formed this opinion simply based on the fact that he was a mean, adulterous, mentally draining husband - everything in this book made me question everything that was left out of Red Comet. There was still some silencing (although maybe not purposefully) of Sylvia even in that massive bio. This book was (drumroll please) spectacular. It took me a little longer to read than I expected, but only because it's such a dense and rich examination of Sylvia's life and work. And beyond Sylvia, it worked through Assia Wevill, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), the difficulty various authors/scholars have faced to write a biography about her, the mythology surrounding Sylvia, her writing, and her legacy, and the monster that was Ted Hughes. It's necessary reading for any Plath fan, and it's an exceptional addition to the collection of writings on Sylvia. Also, I feel beyond lucky to have met Emily Van Duyne and hear her speak at Pocket Books in Lancaster, PA - it was a small, intimate crowd, and it felt truly special to hear about her "Plath-path."
August 26, 2024
As a Sylvia Plath fan from my college days ("fan" doesn't seem like the right word, more like I recognized myself in her journal entries from early on), I have read many biographies, poem collections, and letters/diaries from and about Plath. This book is an important addition. Sylvia was her own person, she had her own experiences and her life belonged to her. Ted Hughes took such strong advantage of her death (along with Assia Wevill and her daughter), mining these tragedies for his all-important poetry. He couldn't, or wouldn't, separate Sylvia from his craft, so we ended up seeing her through his eyes after her death - and then there's the issue of her writings and many diary entries that were "lost." Without those, we'll never get the completed picture of Sylvia. There seems to have been a tremendous amount of work that went into making sure Hughes' reputation wasn't disparaged, but at the cost of Sylvia and Assia. Their complete stories should be told, and this book was very informative in learning more than I knew before.
Also, such a lightbulb moment for me when Van Duyne suggested a different interpretation of the line from "Daddy" - I have always read "Daddy...I'm through" as "I'm finished." But "I'm through" can be read another way, as in - "I'm across." That was powerful.
Also, such a lightbulb moment for me when Van Duyne suggested a different interpretation of the line from "Daddy" - I have always read "Daddy...I'm through" as "I'm finished." But "I'm through" can be read another way, as in - "I'm across." That was powerful.
September 20, 2024
This book has analysis and information not found elsewhere that shed new light on Plath. The sincerity of the author won out over the parts that didn’t work for me. The best parts were:
—Details about the early, unpublished biographies and those who wrote them (what’s the deal with Harriet Rosenstein?! Hughes is dead now, publish that book)
—Context for the recently unearthed letters Plath wrote to her therapist, and corroboration found by a close reading of her journals
—All the ways Hughes fucked with her legacy… from making up stories of feminist mobs (classic DARVO that chilled scholarship), to destroying her work, to writing poems about her where things just “happened” as if he had no agency
—The information about Assia Wevill
—Straightforward criticism of other biographers’ work, especially Janet Malcolm’s
—Cultural analysis of Plath mythologies, like “her poems were so good they KILLED her” which are obviously ludicrous but have been accepted for decades
—Analysis of the Robin Morgan poem “Arraignment”
—The extensive notes
Literary scholars, in order to be taken seriously, shouldn’t have to pretend they don’t care deeply about their subjects, and they shouldn’t have to leave biography out of their analysis of art.
—Details about the early, unpublished biographies and those who wrote them (what’s the deal with Harriet Rosenstein?! Hughes is dead now, publish that book)
—Context for the recently unearthed letters Plath wrote to her therapist, and corroboration found by a close reading of her journals
—All the ways Hughes fucked with her legacy… from making up stories of feminist mobs (classic DARVO that chilled scholarship), to destroying her work, to writing poems about her where things just “happened” as if he had no agency
—The information about Assia Wevill
—Straightforward criticism of other biographers’ work, especially Janet Malcolm’s
—Cultural analysis of Plath mythologies, like “her poems were so good they KILLED her” which are obviously ludicrous but have been accepted for decades
—Analysis of the Robin Morgan poem “Arraignment”
—The extensive notes
Literary scholars, in order to be taken seriously, shouldn’t have to pretend they don’t care deeply about their subjects, and they shouldn’t have to leave biography out of their analysis of art.
July 12, 2024
I’ve been a huge fan of Sylvia Plath’s poetry and The Bell Jar since I was in high school. When I saw this was coming out, I knew I had to read it! This reclamation/biography explores a lot in Plath’s life and legacy-before and after her tragic suicide, and her relationship with poet Ted Hughes. It also explored some of the lives adjacent to her own, some hidden away in history that I hadn’t even heard of before reading this.
I loved learning more about this woman whose work I’ve appreciated for years, but I will admit-there were some parts that just felt very long, especially when discussing a topic outside of Plath’s life (ex. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and the Netflix adaptation) and I felt some of those could’ve been shorter since it did feel like it was taking a long time to get through it (but that’s my own personal experience! Take with a grain of salt).
Well-researched, this is a must for anyone who appreciates Plath’s work but wants to know more beyond her writing.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
I loved learning more about this woman whose work I’ve appreciated for years, but I will admit-there were some parts that just felt very long, especially when discussing a topic outside of Plath’s life (ex. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and the Netflix adaptation) and I felt some of those could’ve been shorter since it did feel like it was taking a long time to get through it (but that’s my own personal experience! Take with a grain of salt).
Well-researched, this is a must for anyone who appreciates Plath’s work but wants to know more beyond her writing.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
July 24, 2024
I love Loving Sylvia Plath. I went to college the year The Bell Jar was published in the US (1971), and it was formative reading for me. I've read her poetry often for most of my life. There was a period in the 90s, I think (Van Duyne discusses it) when biographies and letters and Hughes's own poetry were being published and much discussed. Van Duyne goes over this period, analyzing the biographers in particular and revealing their biases, lack of knowledge, etc. She also discusses biographers of Plath who did tons of research, possessed ms, etc. but never published their books. She also analyzes the poetry with her own close readings, which she provides plenty of evidence for. I do feel this book gives us a new picture of Plath and also illustrates how controlled (and biased and violent) the picture Hughes created was. It is many ways a corrective. But as important, in my reading, is the care, the love, the empathy with Plath that Van Duyne shows. There is a bit of the author's own story in this book, but I didn't really read it as a memoir. Rather it is a book about rediscovering, and as the title says, reclaiming Plath. And I'm grateful for the reclamation.
August 27, 2024
This isn't your typical Plath biography. It covers her life in broad strokes and there are some excellent interpretations of her poetry, but it also discusses the way women are doubted and silenced and questions the establishment's refusal to acknowledge Plath as a victim of intimate partner violence.
I loved the chapter about the early, unsuccessful attempts made by female scholars to write about Plath. During the early days of the pandemic I found out that you could access the Rosenstein archive virtually and I spent hours listening to poor-quality taped interviews of people who had known Plath. I remember gasping at some of the gossip--it's a real shame that Rosenstein was unable to complete her book as it could have done so much to bring Plath's story into the open when it was still fresh. (Having said that, I think it would have been an odd book--there were several mentions in the interviews of Hughes being some kind of warlock because he was part Welsh, or something? Y'all, come on.)
I found a note in my planner from that time: "Ted Hughes was a real shit."
I stand by it.
I loved the chapter about the early, unsuccessful attempts made by female scholars to write about Plath. During the early days of the pandemic I found out that you could access the Rosenstein archive virtually and I spent hours listening to poor-quality taped interviews of people who had known Plath. I remember gasping at some of the gossip--it's a real shame that Rosenstein was unable to complete her book as it could have done so much to bring Plath's story into the open when it was still fresh. (Having said that, I think it would have been an odd book--there were several mentions in the interviews of Hughes being some kind of warlock because he was part Welsh, or something? Y'all, come on.)
I found a note in my planner from that time: "Ted Hughes was a real shit."
I stand by it.
October 7, 2024
Such a moving, thoroughly researched, and courageous "reclamation" of Sylvia Plath's life and work from an author who pushes against so much silence and silencing to share how Ted Hughes was an abusive partner (no coincidence that his partners Plath and Assia Wevill both committed suicide and both wrote about his consistent abuse modes and patterns), as well as his hyper-controlling (mis)management of Plath's legacy (he refused to give Plath's mother the letter she wrote to her shortly before her death? or to tell her mother that she died, let alone committed suicide, for far too long?).
Van Duyne's careful citations provide unmistakable proof for what seems at times like Hughes's unbelievable callowness and cruelty - not just toward Plath but also toward the countless women who he seduced/abused or who dared to try to write their own well-researched accounts of Plath's work and legacy, many of whom he "choked" and silenced figuratively and/or quite literally.
A must-read for anyone interested in Plath, mid-C20 American or British poetry, women's writing, intimate partner violence, or the long long history of silenced women who would have spoken up to say #MeToo.
Van Duyne's careful citations provide unmistakable proof for what seems at times like Hughes's unbelievable callowness and cruelty - not just toward Plath but also toward the countless women who he seduced/abused or who dared to try to write their own well-researched accounts of Plath's work and legacy, many of whom he "choked" and silenced figuratively and/or quite literally.
A must-read for anyone interested in Plath, mid-C20 American or British poetry, women's writing, intimate partner violence, or the long long history of silenced women who would have spoken up to say #MeToo.
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